People like Lisa Marie Sohr, who lose 100 pounds or more with stomach surgery, find that with their new bodies often come new friends, new spouses, new lives. But happiness is not a foregone conclusion:

To many New Yorkers, August poses a potent question: What would life be like without therapy? Analysts have no shortage of answers to this question -- and it could take you a year's worth of 50-minute hours to explore them all. The story of one woman's struggle with – as the shrinks say – termination.

The junior senator from Illinois might take the country to a place it’s never been, past the baby boom, beyond race. To many Democrats, and even a lot of Republicans, the prospect is thrilling—but is it for real?